Translink Continues To Decieve the Public And The Mainstream Media Sleeps

One just has to shake ones head with TransLink. Calling it the “Ship of Fools” is not correct. The “Ship of Fools are those buying into Translink’s continued propaganda stream.

Earlier, Zwei debunked the TransLink inspired myth that Broadway was the busiest transit Corridor in Canada; no wait North America.

Where was the mainstream media?

Tell a lie big enough and repeat it often enough, the people will come to believe it.

What we see in Metro Vancouver is a rogue bureaucracy, filled with people who really haven’t a clue about our transit system, rather the sole purpose is to build more of the obsolete SkyTrain. In short, BS their way for more SkyTrain construction.

I want to dispel the myth that SkyTrain technology is not proprietary. Automated train lines are popular around the world and that growth has brought more choice in the market.

A key to the SkyTrain technology is that it is a driverless, automated system. In addition to reduced operating costs, the automated system also improves safety, as it removes the potential for human error. The technology also allows us to run trains more frequently.

With more cities choosing automated systems, there are now more manufacturing options when it comes to procuring SkyTrain cars from several companies. While the vehicles and technology must be tailored to each agency’s system, the automated technology at the heart of our SkyTrain system is not unique or proprietary.

Sany Zein, vice president, TransLink

The letter written by a TransLink vice president demonstrates that either he is deliberately misleading the punlic or he is profoundly ignorant of the metro railway system.

Let us look at the veracity of his letter.

SkyTrain is not a technology, it is what our metropolitan railway is named. Many elevated transit systems are locally know as SkyTrain.

What we call SkyTrain is actually three different railways, with two being closely related.

The Canada Line is a conventional railway and is not compatible in operation with the rest of the “SkyTrain” network.

The Expo line was built with the old Linear Induction Motored (LIM), Urban Transportation Development Corporation ALRT system, which was renamed from ICTS, because it was unsalable. The Expo Line is not compatible in operation with the Canada Line.

The Millennium Line and Evergreen line expansion, uses the Bombardier Inc. rebuilt ALM system (renamed from ALRT because it was unsalable), which cars are longer and heavier. The LIM powered ALRT/ART system is now called Movia metro.

The patents for the Movia Metro system are owned by Bombardier Inc. and SNC Lavalin

Driverless transit system has very little to do with being a proprietary railway, rather driverless or automatic operation is a signalling issue. Driverless transit systems are very expensive to operate and maintain and are used on large metro operations where the traffic flows are such to make driverless operation sustainable.

The Expo and Millennium Lines operate LIM powered trains, with Bombardier Inc. the only supplier for the proprietary railway. No other railway company can provide a LIM powered train without first designing and safety case a new vehicle and set up a production line, which is very costly.

Vancouver is now the only city in the world, of the seven cities that built with the LIM powered now called Movia Metro, to pursue planning and building with it. Only three of the seven systems were actually built as a metropolitan railway.

Bombardier Inc. is slowly phasing out production of the proprietary LIM powered Movia metro system.

The City of Ottawa sent a delegation to Vancouver to study our SkyTrain system before they were to build their own transit system. They found the transit system, especially the Movia system, very expensive to build and cost more to operate and maintain than light rail. The delegation also found that driverless operation prevented flexibility of operation, that has been proven to attract customers to transit.